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On Wednesday night, White House press secretary Jay Carney asked that Congress work to provide funding for “flexibility and resources to help Iraq respond to emerging needs as the terrorist threat from [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] continues to evolve.”

Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday evening with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogen about the hostage-taking of Turkish personnel and seizure of that nation’s consulate in Mosul, which is near the border with Turkey. And the White House described a rapid “deterioration” of the situation in Iraq in the past 24 hours, during which insurgents associated with the ISIL have seized Mosul and Tikrit.

“The situation in Iraq is grave and we’re actively working with Iraqi leaders in support of their efforts to implement an effective and coordinated response to address this crisis. We’ll continue to provide all appropriate assistance to the government of Iraq,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Earnest declined to address whether President Barack Obama would intervene militarily in Iraq for humanitarian issues. The New York Times reported on Wednesday night that the Iraqi prime minister was seeking airstrikes against the insurgents, which is sure to raise questions from the members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees about what role the U.S. will play in Iraq’s security as the conflict escalates.

The panel will hear from Elissa Slotkin of the Defense Department, Paul Wolfe, a Defense Intelligence Agency expert on Iraq, DIA terrorism analyst Patrick Pryor of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Lt. Gen. John Bednarek, chief of the Office of Security Cooperation for Iraq.